I need everyone to send this, or something of your own, to your MP! General elections are when important changes suddenly look very possible. Please contact ali@taxcc.org to let me know which MPs are getting letters. Then, please contact me again once you get their reply, helpful or otherwise. Together we can get this sorted.

Tax Credit Overpayment Recovery Injustices Must End

Dear (MP’s name)

As your constituent, and with a General election due, I implore you to make the ending of tax credit recovery injustices an election priority. Tens of thousands of people and families across Britain, as well as families who, after working hard in Britain, have moved to a new life overseas are facing crippling recovery bills without adequate explanation. Thousands more never knew – as they were not made aware – that instead of being locked in long-term debt, they had every right to dispute recovery and prove their overpayments were due to official errors and spent in good faith.

For Labour MPs only: Helpful although tax credit payments have been when working safely and well, the enforced recovery of non-fault overpayments is giving the government such a bad name that the likelihood of a return to office is minimal. As a Labour MP, I hope you will join your party colleagues Jon Cruddas, Dianne Abbott, Frank Field, Michael Jabez Foster and others [please delete your MP from this list if they appear!] You must be logged in to see this link. if you would like to learn more about the injustices and foibles of the system and the consequences for claimants, including premature court action and the assumption that claimants are guilty until proven innocent.

For all Opposition MPs apart from the Lib Dems: Whilst tax credits have worked safely and well for many people and their families, you will surely be aware of the misery they cause when they go wrong. Your Party has an ideal opportunity to highlight the many continuing injustices within the system, and finally end the hardship faced by too many honest, decent, hardworking families whose tax credit debts came about not through fraud, negligence or their own carelessness, but through official error and misplaced trust that the “money with your name on it” promise of a helping hand was the step up to a better life rather than a curse. Were your party to promise a tax credit amnesty for all non-fraudulent claimants, this bold step would increase support and inspire confidence in your commitment to social justice. Please visit You must be logged in to see this link. to learn more about the injustices and foibles of the system and the consequences for claimants, including premature court action and the assumption that claimants are guilty until proven innocent.

For all Lib Dems: Whilst tax credits have worked safely and well for many people and their families, no Part has been more proactive than the Liberal Democrats in exposing the misery they cause when they go wrong. The Liberal Democrats have, in correspondence with the Tax Credit Casualties campaign group, spoken of having a “simpler, clearer” system where the Treasury cannot claw payments back once awarded; a changed “burden of proof” which protects claimants from presumed blame; and “a statutory right of appeal against overpayments, whereby all overpayments due to official error would be written off”. Were your Party to go one step further, and make it a Manifesto and election promise to grant a tax credit amnesty for all non-fraudulent claimants, this bold step would radically increase support and inspire confidence in your commitment to social justice. It could all be funded from unclaimed tax credits, with huge future savings when recovery action is no longer a major part of the Tax Credit Office’s ongoing work. Please visit You must be logged in to see this link. to learn more about the injustices and foibles of the system and the consequences for claimants, including premature court action and the assumption that claimants are guilty until proven innocent.

I hope you will take immediate action. Justice is an Amnesty, and not only is it the right thing to do, but it will cost less to do than to continue obstinately pursuing those who no longer have the money as they spent it in good faith.

Please let me know what action you propose to take to put this injustice right.

Yours sincerely,

Morpheus: I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.

Fixed awards were, it has to be said, safer and guaranteed that nothing in your circumstances would affect that award for the life of it, so you could safely use the money knowing there would never be a bill sent to you because someone had messed up.

Okay, result of sorts. But we still need a Lib Dem promise of an Amnesty, and if the Lib Dems do this, there's a fair chance the Conservatives will match that.

Morpheus: I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.